New York City’s ban on churches in schools upheld

NEW YORK — The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected an evangelical church’s plea to overturn New York City’s ban on renting public schools for religious worship services. That means the city now has a green light to begin evicting congregations that pay rent to use public school buildings for church services.

The Supreme Court’s Dec. 5 decision not to hear the case leaves in place a federal appeals court ruling that upheld the city’s policy.

The court case involved the Bronx Household of Faith, a church that has paid weekly rent to hold worship services at a public school since 2002. The church, along with about 60 other congregations, was allowed to continue worshiping at public schools pending the outcome of the lawsuit.

Though it excludes religious groups, the New York City school board’s policy permits private organizations to use school facilities for reasons that benefit the community. In addition to the 60 or so churches that meet weekly in the city’s public schools, non-Christian religious groups use school buildings with less frequency.

In a 2–1 decision in June, a Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled allowing churches to use schools resulted in an “unintended bias in favor of Christian religions” — since most Christian churches worship on Sunday.